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Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to reciprocal transfers of soil between adjacent coniferous forest and meadow vegetation in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon

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Abstract

Little information exists on the responses of soil fungal and bacterial communities in high elevation coniferous forest/open meadow ecosystems of the northwest United States of America to treatments that impact vegetation and soil conditions. An experiment was conducted in which soil cores were reciprocally transplanted between immediately adjacent forests and meadows at two high elevation (∼1,600 m) sites (Carpenter and Lookout) in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest located in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Half of the cores were placed in PVC pipe (closed) to prevent new root colonization, whereas the other cores were placed in mesh bags (open) to allow recolonization by fine roots. A duplicate set of open and closed soil cores was not transferred between sites and was incubated in place. After 2 year, soil cores were removed and changes in fungal and bacterial biomasses determined using light microscopy, and changes in microbial community composition determined by PLFA analysis, and by length heterogeneity PCR of the internal transcribed spacer region of fungal ribosomal DNA. At both sites soil microbial community structures had responded to treatments after 2 year of incubation. At Carpenter, both fungal and bacterial community structures of forest soil changed significantly in response to transfer from forest to meadow, with the shift in fungal community structure being accompanied by a significant decrease in the PLFA biomarker of fungal biomass,18:2ω6,9. At Lookout, both fungal and bacterial community structures of forest soil changed significantly in response to open versus closed core treatments, with the shift in the fungal community being accompanied by a significant decrease in the 18:2ω6,9 content of closed cores, and the shift in the bacterial community structure being accompanied by a significant increase in bacterial biomass of closed cores. At both sites, fungal community structures of meadow soils changed differently between open and closed cores in response to transfer to forest, and were accompanied by increases in the18:2ω6,9 content of open cores. Although there were no significant treatment effects on the bacterial community structure of meadow soil at either site, bacterial biomass was significantly higher in closed versus open cores regardless of transfer.

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Acknowledgements

Support for this work was provided by grants from the National Science Foundation Microbial Observatory Program (MCB-9977933 and MCB-0348689) and by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. We acknowledge the NSF Long Term Ecological Research program for infrastructure support at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. We acknowledge various present and past members of our laboratory for assistance in site set up, soil sampling, and preparation. The staff of the Central Analytical Services Laboratory of the Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology is thanked for their help and guidance with Gene Scan analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Nash Hall, Rm. 220, Corvallis, OR, 97331-3804, USA

    P. J. Bottomley

  2. Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    P. J. Bottomley, R. R. Yarwood, M. A. Williams & D. D. Myrold

  3. Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    S. A. Kageyama, K. E. Waterstripe & K. Cromack Jr

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  1. P. J. Bottomley
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  3. S. A. Kageyama
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  7. D. D. Myrold
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Correspondence to P. J. Bottomley.

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Bottomley, P.J., Yarwood, R.R., Kageyama, S.A. et al. Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to reciprocal transfers of soil between adjacent coniferous forest and meadow vegetation in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Plant Soil 289, 35–45 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9095-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9095-2

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